DNA
by dreamingmarie
Summary: When Charlie Stone reluctantly went to seek out his half-brother, he didn't know what would hit him.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** The characters were created by Rob Thomas and remain the property of Thomas, the CW, and Warner Bros. Television. No infringement is intended, no profit is made. **  
Author's Note:** This fic was originally written for challenge 3 (Thanksgiving) of Round 3 of vmfic_gameon . That didn't work out so well, so now it's written for challenge 4 of Round 4 of vmfic_gameon (word table). All the words are in the fic. I would like to thank the awesome annie_oakley and the lovely love_is_epic for beta-reading.

Charlie Stone had always had a complicated relationship with his father, mainly because he'd never met him. He knew that his father was Aaron Echolls, the great movie star who had met and fallen in love with his mother for a short time. Though had to leave to do great things and make great movies, he had always made sure that his son would have everything he'd need.

Charlie followed the stories about Aaron's other family in the news and strived to become as good as them. He studied the tabloids and tried to figure out how he, too, could earn the privilege of living with his father. His greatest wish was that, someday, he would do great things, like go to the moon, become a great baseball player or design a flying car. Then his father would proudly come out and say, "This is my son." He worked hard at school, did his best in Little League and imagined Aaron, from far away, poring over his school reports to see that his little boy was doing well. His reward for his toil would be recognition, and he dreamt every night of the moment his father would come out of the shadows to tell Charlie how proud he was.

It was only much later, when he saw his half-sister Trina's much publicized acting debut, that he realised how much he had idealised his father's other children. It wasn't just disappointment Charlie felt while watching her butcher her lines, it was shame and embarrassment. And there was a definite feeling of injustice mixed in there. How could his father prefer Trina to Charlie, who was serious at school and made good grades and was studying hard for his SATs? How could he answer interviews claiming how proud he was of her for following in his footsteps? But for that, too, there was an explanation - Trina wasn't his father's real daughter, she'd been adopted. His father had taken her in because he felt pity for the orphaned girl, and Charlie should be understanding and charitable. So he turned a blind eye to the reports of wild partying in the tabloids and studied twice as hard to cheer up his father.

But Logan was the real deal, and Charlie always thought, morosely, that he could never come close to Lynn Echolls's son. The adorable child, who at the age of five had melted America's heart in the documentary _An Echolls Family Christmas_, always had a charming and unaffected answer to whatever question the media had for him. Logan accompanied his parents on the red carpet. He made his father chuckle and his mother - Aaron's wife - beam with delight. When he turned into a teenager, he didn't join his parents anymore, but Charlie saw pictures of him in a tabloid once, kissing a beautiful girl who was said, in the caption, to be a software billionaire's daughter. He was so perfect that Charlie couldn't help feeling dejected when he thought of him. The small apartment he shared with his mother and the silence they sometimes had could never compare to the glamour of Lynn Echolls and her brilliant, witty, successful son.

That was all over when Logan's girlfriend got herself murdered. Charlie was shocked to find that his first thought was - how could Logan have let that happen? Didn't he know that his father needed to show the world that his family, and especially his son, were worthy of the adoration of the public? That he couldn't afford even the hint of a scandal? Charlie would never choose his girlfriends so carelessly.

Charlie was scared by his own reaction. He managed to bury that nasty impulse, but over the next few weeks, as the media storm raged around Logan, he couldn't help thinking of all the things Logan probably did - skip class, take drugs, forget to brush his teeth - that Charlie would never do. He wanted to ask his father who he now thought was his favourite son.

But the storm passed, and for a long time there was nothing on TV or in the magazines except Aaron's new roles, Trina's partying and Logan's descent into squalid behaviour, which Charlie couldn't contemplate without a little smugness. But then the sharks that had gravitated for so long around the Echolls family, and who had never been able to indulge their jealousy and spite, had enough and decided that Aaron, his wife and his children were fair game.

As the scandals kept piling on Aaron, Charlie watched with mounting horror: the stalking and the stabbing, the allegations of adultery (which he and his mother regarded as contemptible calumny), Lynn Echolls's suicide, and finally Aaron's arrest for the murder of Lilly Kane (something else Charlie couldn't believe his father capable of) and Logan's arrest for killing someone in a gang fight. By that time Charlie had long given up the dream of being accepted by his father, but he still wanted to offer him his support, to show him that no matter how badly Logan had betrayed him, Charlie was still on his side.

"Absolutely not," said Avi Kaufman, his father's accountant, when Charlie called him. "Aaron's illegitimate child coming forward? That's the worst thing that could happen right now! Do you really think your father needs any more scandal?"

He protested, but to no avail.

"Listen, Charlie," said Avi to placate him, "I'll give him the message - he appreciates the support. But you need to understand that you have to stay out of the public eye. Whatever you need, we can arrange it. But you have to stay put."

Charlie was taken aback by Avi's reaction - he'd just wanted to help, to offer some comfort, not hog the spotlight. He was very unhappy to have been misunderstood so badly. But he felt sure that this was the reaction of a man paid to protect his father from those who would harm him. It wasn't Avi's fault if he was a little paranoid. It wasn't Aaron's own reaction, and in the end Charlie readily forgave them both, berating himself for clamouring for attention when Aaron had so many problems to face.

He followed the trial with bated breath. He and Joanne spent their anniversary cheering Aaron's acquittal, and his mother called, in tears, to tell him, once more, that his father was innocent and that he shouldn't believe the jealous people who bad-mouthed him. It was with shock that he turned on the TV, not a week later, to learn that his father had been shot dead in a Neptune hotel room.

Unsure how to mourn this man who had shaped his life without ever being in it, he called Avi again, who was quick to reassure him that he would keep his monthly allowance from the Echolls estate. He asked if he could come to the funeral, and Avi didn't really have any objection, as long as Charlie didn't talk to the press, or to anyone in the Echolls family. Charlie didn't know why it was so essential that Trina and Logan remain in the dark about him, but he agreed to the condition.

So he went and watched the circus unfold, with Trina sobbing in her handkerchief and Logan standing next to her, in a dark suit and sunglasses, his face a mask of anger and contempt. The famously spoilt, obnoxious and heartless teenager walked away as soon as the ceremony was over and passed only a few feet away from Charlie, and his half-brother watched as he shoved the reporters out of his way. He didn't say a word to commemorate his father and he didn't even stay after the coffin was lowered to the ground. For a moment, Charlie felt sure that Logan was responsible for his father's murder - it didn't matter that the Neptune sheriff's department had issued a statement that he had an alibi. By his betrayal, Logan had done nothing less than orchestrate Aaron Echolls's destruction.

It still came as a slap in the face, though, a few months later, when Logan went on Larry King to out and insult Charlie, and to besmirch his father's memory with accusations of child abuse. So destroying the man's life and legacy wasn't enough, he had to drag Charlie into it, too? Furious and gutted that his half-brother was so possessive of his father that he couldn't even handle his existence, Charlie vowed that he would never have anything to do with Logan Echolls ever again. Any residual curiosity he might have still had to know his half-brother was gone, and he deleted the maudlin messages Logan left on his cell phone the next day, nastily thinking to himself that whatever mental issues Logan had - schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder or whatever made him act that way - weren't Charlie's fault.

But that was two years ago, and now he really regretted it, because it would have saved him a lot of time and effort. Now, without Logan's phone number or any other way to contact him, he was reduced to stopping by random students on the campus of Hearst college in order to ask if any of them knew Logan Echolls.

He heard a few confused "Sorry, dunno who you're talking about" replies, but most people seemed to know who Logan was. "He goes to Hearst, right?" was the most common reaction he got. Apparently, even if he had been less and less present in the media, Logan Echolls was still a minor celebrity at Hearst College. Once in a while he found someone who'd been in contact with him, but the reports he got were confusing.

"My friend saw him once and asked him for an autograph, and the guy was a total dick to him," one guy reported.

"Yeah, I met him at a party once, he's cool," said another.

"I see him, like, every once in a while, like, at the Food Court, and he is so hot," a girl gushed. "He really likes pizza. He has it, like, every time I see him. It's almost freaky. You wanna see his picture? I got it on my cell phone."

It was only after walking around like that for several hours under the warm October sun that he finally struck gold. A girl in front of him dropped a pile of books on the ground and he helped her pick them up, taking the opportunity to ask her about Logan.

"Logan Echolls?" she repeated. "Sure I know him. He's in my poli sci class. You should talk to the blond guy over there, that's his roommate."

Charlie walked over to the man she'd pointed out, a surfer type who was probably on the Hearst seven-year track, and stated his business.

"Lemme give him a call," the guy said.

He took out his cell phone and dialled a number.

"Dude, it's me. Listen, there's this guy who wants to talk to you... He says he's your half-brother, or something... Charlie Stone... Dude, I dunno, dark hair, brown eyes... Dude, how should I know?... Look, why don't you just drag your ass over here and look at him yourself?"

The roommate gave an exaggerated eye roll at Logan's last answer and hung up. "He said he's coming over with his girlfriend. In the meantime, you get to hang out with Dick. Wanna beer?"

"No thank you." Charlie was starting to question the wisdom of his actions.

"Well, I'm getting one. Stay put!"

As he walked away to go quench his thirst, Charlie was suddenly seized with the urge to bolt. If this was what Logan's roommate was like, then what kind of person was Logan himself? And how could he ever persuade a lazy, selfish idiot who only cared about where his next beer came from to do what Charlie needed him to do? It seemed to Charlie that his venture was futile, yet he didn't have a choice ; he couldn't leave without even trying.

So he did as Dick had told him, sat down on a bench and waited despondently for his half-brother. Dick soon came back with his beer, sat down next to him and started chatting, under the mistaken impression that Charlie was interested in the girls walking by and how he rated them. He made comments in a loud and clear voice and with such a sense of entitlement that Charlie, although he was certainly seven years older, didn't dare tell him off for it.

"Oh and by the way," Dick said out of nowhere. "Logan's girlfriend? Total bitch. You wanna watch out for her. She's got Logan by the balls, if you know what I mean."

Fortunately, Logan arrived shortly afterwards, relieving Charlie from at least this kind of torture. He was preceded by a short, blonde girl who held out her hand to him.

"Hi Charlie," she greeted him. "I'm Veronica."

"That's her," said Dick in a stage whisper. "Remember what I said."

Veronica's smile froze. "I don't even know what that's about, and yet it makes me want to buy you a subscription to Bitch magazine," she told Dick.

"Bitch magazine? Meeyow!"

"You think it has naked pictures, don't you?" Veronica deadpanned.

"Excuse my friend," said Logan, positioning himself behind his girlfriend, his arms around her waist. "He thinks there are naked pictures in the Wall Street Journal."

"There are naked pictures in the Wall Street Journal?" asked Dick. "Score!" And with that, he walked off, presumably to get a copy of the financial newspaper.

"You know you just gave him a brain aneurysm?" Veronica asked Logan, lifting up her head so she could see him.

Logan just shrugged in response. "I'm Logan, by the way," he told Charlie, hesitatingly lifting his hand in salute.

Charlie nodded in acknowledgement. Regardless of what he was here to do, he wasn't sure he wanted to shake the other man's hand.

"Why are you roommates with him?" he asked, pointing to the direction Dick had taken.

"Because he's my friend," Logan said, looking down at Veronica's shoulder. "He's got... issues, and he needs all the friends he can get."

Charlie nodded again, observing Logan's face. He seemed friendly and a little bit shy now, his expression a far cry from the harsh features Charlie had seen during their father's funeral. Charlie had had time enough to calm down by now, and a couple more years in front of a classroom had taught him that teenagers could react in extreme ways to bullying, divorce, abuse or death. And Logan had barely been eighteen when his father died. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't turn out to be a complete psychopath.

"Anyway," said Logan, "Veronica and I were just going to pick up some take out and go over to my place for dinner. Want to join us?"

* * *

They drove over to Logan's apartment after stopping for Thai, which they ate on Logan's ample balcony. The conversation stayed mainly between Charlie and Logan, Veronica remaining in the background in order to allow the two half-brothers to get to know each other. Logan was telling Charlie all about his life in college: the classes he took, the grades he got, the major he was about to declare... As Logan told him all about his law school ambitions, rattling off the ones that would allow him to stay close to Veronica and what their GPA requirements were, Charlie realised with horror that Logan was looking for his approval.

It wasn't that Charlie's students never looked up to him or valued his opinion. But they were students, which meant that his influence on them only lasted for a year before they moved on. Here the person seeking his good opinion was, whether he liked it or not, his half-brother. He was panicking at the idea that their relationship had the potential to be life-long, and that, in a way, Logan's instant trust in him put him in a place of responsibility he wasn't sure he wanted. He'd never thought about how he should act around a younger sibling.

After dinner, Veronica said she had to go home to write an essay and offered Charlie a ride to campus, where his car was still parked. Logan looked a little disappointed to see them leave and told Charlie they'd have to chat again. They exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and then Logan turned to say goodbye to Veronica.

Charlie pretended to inspect a painting while Logan made affectionate noises and tried to sweet-talk his girlfriend into coming back later. Charlie thought about all the things that he had heard about Logan in the past, and that none of them had prepared him for this. It was hard to reconcile the guy who had knifed someone and who had accused his father of so many awful things with the slightly insecure college student who wanted his brother to like him and who was clearly nuts about his girlfriend. It was weird, and Charlie wasn't sure what to think about it, let alone what to feel.

Veronica negotiated it down to a long phone call when she was done with her essay.

"I'll get a couple of hookers and some blow while I'm waiting for you," Logan answered, as Charlie gawked incredulously.

"Don't say that!" Veronica chided him. "Now your brother is going to think I wouldn't cut you in pieces and throw your remains in the ocean if you did that!"

Charlie smiled nervously, hoping very much they were both joking.

During the drive back to campus, Charlie struggled to find something to say to Veronica. Although she didn't seem bothered by the lack of small-talk, he was, and he was grappling with the various subjects suitable for conversation with near-strangers.

"That's a nice apartment Logan has," he settled on. "How does Dick keep up with the rent? He doesn't look like the kind to get a job."

Veronica gave a short laugh. "Do you remember that real estate fraud scandal from a few years back?"

"Vaguely."

"That was Dick's dad. Don't worry about Dick. He's got a trust fund."

"Oh." Charlie let it sink in for a second. "So, you have a trust fund too?"

Again, Veronica seemed to think his question was very funny. "Nope," she said. "I'm a scholarship kid. I have a job at the library and I work as a private investigator on the side."

Now it was Charlie's turn to want to chuckle. The idea of Veronica - with her long blonde locks and her indie rock chick style - poring over clues with a trench coat and magnifying glass was almost too funny to contemplate. The note of pride in her voice suggested she probably thought of herself as a detective, but that she was probably just as clumsy about it as Inspector Clouseau. A twenty-year-old co-ed solving crime? That didn't happen.

Yet Charlie had also noticed that Dick's assessment of her hadn't been entirely off - for better or worse, Veronica had clearly established herself as a gateway to Logan, and unless he had her approval, Charlie suspected he wouldn't get anywhere with her boyfriend. He had to humour her.

"Really?" he said. "Maybe you could help me find out who's skimming off the cash box for the Renaissance club, then."

"No problem. Where do you keep it?"

She started rattling off a number of questions to him in a competent voice that took him by surprise. Maybe he'd underestimated her.

"I'll come by your school tomorrow afternoon to install a camera. In the meantime, don't tell anybody. You don't want to tip off the thief."

"Okay," he said, amazed at the simplicity and efficiency of the plan.

"This should be straightforward case," she told him, "and since you're Logan's brother, this one's one the house."

"Thanks, Veronica, I appreciate it."

There was another lull in the conversation as they drove over the Coronado Bridge.

"So how did you and Logan meet?" Charlie asked. "Did you have a class together, or did Logan ask you to find something and you fell in love with your client?"

Veronica gave him a funny sideways glance. "I've known Logan since I was twelve," she said. "I was Lilly Kane's best friend."

Suddenly, the cogwheels in Charlie's brain fit together and he realised who she was - Veronica Mars, the slutty girl who had propositioned his father and then lied about the so-called sex tapes. But the idea of Veronica as a manipulative femme fatale jarred with what he'd seen of her just as badly as the image of Logan as a murderer clashed with that of Logan seeming like an awed little brother.

"Do you believe it, what he says about Lilly Kane and the abuse?" It was out before he'd thought about it, and Charlie cringed at the can of worms he'd just opened. This wasn't going to help his case.

"Listen, about that... It's really not something Logan likes to talk about. When we were in school, it was something he kept very well hidden. I didn't know about it for years, and I only found out by accident. Logan only decided to come forward about it after that reporter impersonated you. He figured he didn't want to hand the guy a scoop. If it was going to become public knowledge anyway, he'd rather it were on his own terms."

"And Lilly Kane?" Charlie pushed. "Do you really think my father killed her?"

"I know beyond a doubt that Aaron Echolls killed Lilly Kane."

She spat it out with such venom, with her jaw set and her hands gripping the steering wheel, that Charlie was suddenly a little scared.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to..."

She lost her anger almost as soon as it had flared up. "No, it's okay. It's just... I... Aaron Echolls..."

She left the rest unspoken, floating between them as the tension slowly fell.

"I just have trouble accepting him as a villain, that's all," said Charlie.

"How's that so hard to accept?" Veronica bit back. "He abandoned you, didn't he?"

Charlie froze, startled. Never, in his entire life, had he looked at it that way. They drove the rest of the way in silence, as Charlie, pretending to be engrossed by the sunset, still contemplated the idea of parental abandonment and how it could possibly apply to him. He'd never seen himself as one of those children who got endlessly moralised over and who were doomed to failure because their deadbeat dads couldn't be bothered with them. No, Charlie's father was a movie star. He'd simply been too busy to look after his son.

They pulled into the lot where Charlie's car was parked .

"So, tomorrow afternoon, is that okay with you?" Veronica asked cheerfully, as if the subject of Lilly Kane had never come up.

Charlie was relieved he hadn't completely blown it with her. "Sure, it's perfect."

"Remember, " she called to him as he was getting into his car. "Don't tell anyone - even the other teachers!"

He was about to protest, but she drove off with a wave of her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** The characters were created by Rob Thomas and remain the property of Thomas, the CW, and Warner Bros. Television. No infringement is intended, no profit is made. **  
Author's Note:** This fic was originally written for challenge 3 (Thanksgiving) of Round 3 of vmfic_gameon . That didn't work out so well, so now it's written for challenge 4 of Round 4 of vmfic_gameon (word table). All the words are in the fic. I would like to thank the awesome annie_oakley and the lovely love_is_epic for beta-reading.

As promised, Veronica came by the next day to put in the camera.

"Right, now don't forget to put in a new tape every twenty-four hours and give me a call as soon as you notice the money's gone. If you run out of tapes before that, just wipe one of the old ones and put it back in," she said, standing on a chair in order to adjust the camera's position on top of the cupboard. "And don't forget: don't let anyone know about this - student or teacher."

"A teacher wouldn't do something like this, would they?"

Veronica laughed. Charlie noticed with irritation that she seemed to regard a lot of the things he said as ridiculous. "Clearly, you've never met my High School health teacher," she explained.

"She stole money from a cash box?"

"Yep. And then she accused me and some other students she didn't like. Fun times."

Charlie shook his head, shocked. "I can't believe someone would do that."

"Well, at least she taught me that teachers are no better than other people," Veronica replied simply. "But I kind of already knew that."

Charlie watched in silence while she finished fixing the camera on top of a cupboard and wiped her hands on her jeans. Before she left, saying that she had to work on another case, she gave him a business card for Mars Investigations. Charlie studied the card, which had with a Masonic-looking logo and an address in downtown Neptune, and he wondered how anyone could be so cynical.

He had little contact with either Logan or Veronica for the rest of the week. He sent Logan some pictures of Joanne and Marcy because he'd asked for them and received an answer telling him his wife was gorgeous and his daughter adorable. He took this to be a good sign, but later he was made a little uncomfortable by the fact that it looked like Logan was angling for an invitation for Thanksgiving.

"I'm supposed to celebrate it with Veronica and her dad, like last year," he wrote. "I wish I had an excuse to leave after dinner, though. Last year, Mr. Mars had me watch old baseball games on VHS. I'd rather avoid it this time…"

How could he tell Logan that he wasn't sure he was quite ready to spend Thanksgiving together? How was he to explain, for that matter, that this year he, Joanne and Marcy might not celebrate Thanksgiving at all?

After a week, he noticed that money was gone from the cash box again and he called Veronica. It wasn't long before she came to pick up the camera and the tapes.

"Listen," she said, "I'm in a bit of a rush, but I'll look at this later. Can you drop by the office tomorrow morning? I should have your answer then."

She left, leaving Charlie a bit miffed that she had so little time to spare for him, but he dutifully complied, apprehensive but at the same time curious to know who the thief was.

When he pushed the door of Mars Investigations, he couldn't suppress a grin. Here was the archetype of the private detective's office from a noir movie: the back-alley location, the old, battered furniture, the dreary metal filing cabinets… As he sat down on the couch to take it all in, a bald man in his early fifties wearing a trench coat came out of a door, completing the picture.

"Can I help you?" asked the man.

"I'm looking for Veronica?"

"She went out for an errand. She should be back in a few minutes."

Then a phone rang – an honest to goodness ring like the dial telephones from Charlie's childhood. The man excused himself and went back to where he came from. Charlie listened to the muffled sounds of the conversation coming through the wall.

Thirty seconds later, Veronica came barging through the door, a heavy bag on her shoulder and a stack of files in her arms.

"Hi, Charlie," she called, "sorry I made you wait."

"Not at all. Did you find who did it?"

"Yep, just a second."She sat down behind the desk with the "reception" sign, plopped the files and her bag on it and turned on her laptop.

"Have a seat," she said, pointing to the chair in front of the desk. She launched a video on the computer and turned the screen towards Charlie."Do you know who this is?"

On the screen, a teenage boy was shiftily looking around before getting out the keys to the cupboard and opening the cashbox. Charlie sagged, dropping his head into his hands.

"That's Josh Dubois," he said. "His parents are in a messy divorce and he's been… acting out. You know, getting into fights, partying, alcohol… Mr. Johnson told me he showed up drunk in his class once."

Veronica gave him a wry smile. "Well, at least you can sit him down to tell him a cautionary tale or two," she said.

She gave him a moment or two to feel deflated before attacking him on another subject, and Charlie reflected to himself later that he should have seen it coming.

"Charlie, there's something else I wanted to talk about," she started uncomfortably. "I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but I try to look out for Logan. Because of who he is, he has to be careful who he considers a friend."

Charlie nodded, already knowing where this was going. "You've been investigating me."

"Well, I ran a background check on you," she amended. "I noticed that you've had a lot of hospital expenses on your credit card lately."  
She paused to look at him, and Charlie was startled to see that the conversationseemed to be making her miserable.  
"Look, I understand that your situation is difficult," she continued, "but what Logan needs is a brother, not someone who asks him for money."

Charlie let out a long sigh. "It's not about the money," he answered. "My wife and I, we have good insurance, so that's not an issue. It's my daughter, Marcy. She's three and she has leukaemia." He paused, taking a deep breath before he continued. "She's gonna need a bone marrow transplant and my wife and I aren't HLA-compatible with her. We've tried everyone in the family, but… so far, nobody is. Logan is our last hope."

"Oh my God." Veronica' voice trailed off, as if she were too horrified to speak. Charlie was slightly grateful to her for not springing out a pep talk about positive thinking, like most people did. Maybe she already knew that it didn't work.

"I know it's a big thing to ask," he said. "I mean, the bone marrow donor has to go through a battery of tests, then he needs to stay two days in the hospital and undergo an operation, and then he has to stay at home for another eight days to recover. So I wanted to get to know him a little bit before, you know, asking. I really can't afford him just saying no to me."

"You should tell Logan. You should talk to him about it and ask him." Veronica's voice was assured now. "If you don't go to him now, he'll think you were just stringing him along the entire time. You can't do that to him."

Charlie nodded his agreement and took out his cell phone. Maybe Veronica was right. Maybe it was time to let go of preconceived ideas, on both sides.

"Logan? Is it okay if I come by your place? There's something I need to tell you."

* * *

Logan was waiting for him with a resigned look on his face.

"So I take it Veronica had a chat with you?" he said, bitterness dripping from his voice.

"What do you want?"

"Look, Logan, I didn't mean to…"

"Cut out the crap, okay? Just tell me what you want."

Charlie was feeling horrible as his carefully made plans went down the drain and as he saw that he was going to leave his brother with the impression that he was a callous opportunist. He hadn't realised until now that he had been looking for his approval, too.

"It's my daughter," he said, resigned. "She has leukaemia. I wanted to ask you if you could get tested for your HLA type. She needs bone marrow."

As he said it, he reminded himself of Trina Echolls's video, a few years back, in which she was whining for the same thing. It had turned out to be a hoax, but he'd always wondered what the deal had been with that. Maybe now, unless Logan believed him, he would never know.

Logan was silent for a moment, probably allowing for the request to sink in."And, what?" he finally demanded, "you felt you couldn't just ask me upfront?"  
Charlie sighed. "I was afraid you'd say no if I asked you the wrong way, and since I didn't know you, I didn't know what the right way to ask you was. I couldn't afford that. I'm sorry, Logan."

There was more silence, and Logan finally said: "I'll do it. Just give me the doctor's number, I'll get tested."

"Really?"

Logan was silent for a few moments, but then seemed to come to a solid conclusion. "Yeah, sure," he said with a crooked smile, his eyes twinkling all resentment evaporated. "I mean, who wouldn't want to help the littlest cancer patient?"

Charlie sighed in relief, so overcome with emotion that his hands trembled almost too much to find Dr. Schonberg's number in his cell phone.

"Thanks, man," he said when Logan was done entering it in his own phone. "This means a lot to me."

He squeezed Logan's arm, hoping it would convey a message of infinite gratitude, and then quickly left him, blinking furiously. He wasn't quite ready yet to let his little brother know how easily he started crying.

A week later, right after a gruelling meeting with Josh and his parents (the two had spent the entire time fighting over whose fault Josh's behaviour problems were, completely ignoring the boy himself), Charlie received a call from a very dumbfounded Dr. Schonberg.

"Mr. Stone, there's a man who came forward for testing who claimed to be your half-brother."

It took Charlie a second to shift gears. "Yes, yes, Logan Echolls. I know all about it."

"Well, yes, his blood tests just came back and… Well, I don't really know what to say other than that it's a miracle! It's something I would never have imagined was possible between someone and their half-uncle. He's perfectly compatible with Marcy."

Dr. Schonberg continued to ramble on about guidelines, pre-treatment hospitalizations, transplant schedules and waivers to be signed, but Charlie didn't listen - his little girl was going to be saved, and the help had come from the unlikeliest source of all.

* * *

Between the exam session at school and Marcy's doctor appointments, the following weeks were a blur of activity. Logan and Marcy both had to go through a number of tests to make sure the transplant would be successful. At every step, Charlie was nervous that something would go wrong or that Logan would change his mind, but everything seemed to be going smoothly. Soon Marcy was in the hospital to be prepped for the operation. She was a little disappointed to have to celebrate her birthday in the cancer ward, but she perked up when she got to meet her shiny new uncle.

Logan had called to ask what Marcy wanted for her birthday, and Joanne had said something along the lines of "just bring yourself, we're happy to see you." He'd come without Veronica, which Charlie took to mean that they could finally meet without supervision. Logan was laden with what looked like half of the "36 months and older" stock of a Toys-R-Us store.

"There you go, kid," said Logan, offering the pile for Marcy to unpack, "your mom was trying to short-change you on the present front, so I figured I'd give you something to help punish her."

Charlie groaned when he saw that the toys Logan had bought were all of the loud and annoying type: a game of Twister that Marcy was still way too young for, a fire engine with a siren, a crying doll, a walking, beeping robot and several other things that he'd have to confiscate if he wanted peace at home until at least Christmas. Otherwise, the cat would have to be treated for anxiety disorder again.

"Logan, most of these are toys for boys, not girls," Joanne protested good-naturedly.  
"That's an issue you need to take up with Veronica," he answered, throwing up his hands. "She's the one who started ranting about the brain-washing and patriarchy in the middle of the store. Besides, fire engines are cool. Everybody agrees on that."

"And was Veronica the one who decided on the heart-attack-for-the-family-cat theme?" added Charlie with good humour.

"Nope, that was all me. Isn't that what uncles are for?"

The birthday party was fun, and Charlie was glad that Logan had come, regardless of the kind of gifts he'd brought, and that he'd been able to meet Marcy and Joanne,Charlie's mother, and some members of Joanne's family. Everyone was happy to meet him and grateful for what he was about to do for Marcy. The only false note came when Charlie's brother-in-law asked Logan why he had come alone to a family party. Logan looked a bit embarrassed and then muttered that his girlfriend was busy and that his sister was in Thailand shooting a movie.

With all the activity surrounding the transplant, and with classes to teach and papers to grade, Charlie only had time to dwell late at night, and he often found himself staring at the ceiling, thinking about his budding relationship with Logan and what it meant about his father. For all his careful planning, he realised now that he had never actually expected Logan to agree to donate bone marrow and for his feelings towards his brother to do such an about-face. And if Logan wasn't the cliquish, sneering, cruel bastard Charlie had imagined, then what about Logan's allegations about their father?

The subject of Aaron wasn't one that Logan had even mentioned, and the short conversation he'd had with Veronica on the matter had upset her so much that he didn't want to bring it up with her again. He liked both of them, but he also didn't want to think that his father was an abuser or a murderer either. He'd made up his mind that he couldn't have been truly abandoned, since he'd always received a substantial amount of money from the Echolls estate. So the crux of the matter was that either his father had been lying, or Logan had. His only option left was to ask the latter point blank if he'd been telling the truth.

It was a conversation that he couldn't avoid forever, but he decided to postpone it until after the operation. He still didn't want to give Logan second thoughts. He felt guilty to be using him in such a way, but since it was for Marcy, he had no other choice. He promised himself that he would try to make it up to Logan, regardless of the outcome of the conversation.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** The characters were created by Rob Thomas and remain the property of Thomas, the CW, and Warner Bros. Television. No infringement is intended, no profit is made. **  
Author's Note:** This fic was originally written for challenge 3 (Thanksgiving) of Round 3 of vmfic_gameon . That didn't work out so well, so now it's written for challenge 4 of Round 4 of vmfic_gameon (word table). All the words are in the fic. I would like to thank the awesome annie_oakley and the lovely love_is_epic for beta-reading.

The operation was scheduled on the day before Thanksgiving, and Charlie was at the hospital when Veronica brought Logan in. Charlie had left Marcy with the nurse in order to say hello to his brother, and he stood outside the room for a moment, listening while Veronica fussed over Logan in a motherly way that Charlie wasn't sure _he_ would take from Joanne. Logan, however, didn't seem to protest much, and Charlie remembered that Logan's real mother was dead. It seemed that in addition to being Logan's girlfriend and his private detective, Veronica was also trying to mommy him, and again Charlie wondered where she found the time to do it all.

He entered the room as Veronica was kissing Logan goodbye.

"Dad and I will drop by tomorrow," she was telling him. "We'll bring turkey, stuffing...all kinds of good stuff."

"Can you bring brownies?"

"Okay, I'll try to see if I have time to squeeze in some brownies."

She saw Charlie in the doorway. "Oh! Hi, Charlie! I'm glad I'm leaving him in good hands. I have to run… Library shift in half-an-hour!"

And with that, she darted out.

"Is she always in such a rush?" asked Charlie when she was gone.

"Yeah. She's pretty busy, you know, with both her jobs and college. She didn't always use to be like that, though. She only got like that, well, you know…" he trailed off until he realised that Charlie didn't know what he meant. "After Lilly died," he added sadly, almost in a whisper.

And there they were, suddenly so close to the elephant in the room.

"Is that when you and Veronica got together? After Lilly Kane died?"

"No. We got together later. Right after Lilly died, I was really messed up and I did a lot of stupid shit. I wasn't exactly a boy scout, if you know what I mean. But you probably already know about that."

Logan smiled wryly. It was clear that he wasn't proud of the tabloid headlines that had clinched Charlie's opinion of him and that he didn't want to discuss them. Charlie just returned his smile and shrugged, not quite knowing how to dispel the moment.

"The first time we got together was after my Mom died," Logan started again. "We were kind of on-and-off for a long time, because we were both still really messed up, I guess. But now we've been together for more than a year without breaking up. We even had our one year anniversary in July!" Logan grinned proudly.

Charlie was surprised to hear that Logan and Veronica had ever broken up. They seemed so lovey-dovey that it seemed almost impossible. He was about to say so when a nurse came in and started inspecting Logan. First, she asked him to stick out his tongue and she tested Logan's reflexes. Charlie wondered what the etiquette was, if he should go or not, but then she asked Logan to take off his shirt so she could listen to his heartbeat.

Logan was very casual about it, flirting with her about that not being the real reason she wanted him to take it off, but he did as he was told. Charlie gasped when he saw Logan's back. It was covered with little scars, and Charlie remembered a detail from Logan's interview with Larry King – how he'd talked about his father punishing him with belt lashes, and how Aaron Echolls made him choose the belt himself. Suddenly Charlie knew instinctively that Logan was telling the truth, that his father, their father, really was a murderer and an abuser.

Later that night, Charlie barely paid attention to the reports that everything had gone smoothly, that both Logan and Marcy were doing well and the preliminary observations were promising. He didn't really listen when Joanne called him to remind him of tomorrow's plans. All he could think about was the fact that he was the son of such a monster. A philanderer, a child abuser, a murderer and a child abandoner - how was he supposed to live with that knowledge?

He couldn't talk to his mother about it. She'd always made sure that Charlie had a high opinion of his father. When the tabloids had started publishing the details of Aaron's philandering tendencies, she'd taken one look at them and declared it to be all rubbish – which was odd, Charlie realised now, because Aaron had most definitely cheated on his wife with her. She had looked at Logan with badly disguised suspicion at Marcy's birthday, even though, for Marcy's sake, she'd been polite with him.

The only one who had an answer to that horrible, obsessing question, Charlie realised, was Logan. He'd had to cope with it for much longer than Charlie, and he would certainly have at least a few helpful tips. He thought about Logan's scars and about all the anguish he'd gone through over the years because of Aaron. Maybe _Charlie_ had been the lucky one after all. Right now all the years he'd spent aching for his father seemed like superficial navel-gazing compared to what his brother had gone through growing up in Aaron's home. Logan probably envied him much more than he had ever envied Logan.

He came to a decision during the quiet celebration they had the following day in Marcy's room. She was still very tired from her operation, and all those who dropped by – Charlie's mother, Joanne's brother and sister-in-law, Veronica (who had smuggled turkey and stuffing into the hospital) – only stayed for a short time and had whispered conversations. It made Charlie even gloomier than before.

"Honey, do you mind if I leave you alone with Marcy for a while tonight?" Charlie suddenly asked his wife after they had been watching their daughter sleep for a few minutes.

"Sure, no problem," she said, looking a little surprised.

He gave her a kiss and then he walked to Logan's room. There was a more pleasant ambiance there, which was partly due to the fact that Logan was recovering sooner than Marcy, and partly because there was a proper, if slightly unconventional, Thanksgiving in progress. Veronica was there with Dick and the bald man from the detective agency, who Veronica introduced as her father. There were also a couple more friends who had just dropped by: a guy named Wallace and a girl named Mac who was telling a story about having narrowly escaped having to watch the football game with her family. Charlie smiled. Nobody in his family was at all into sporting events, but he remembered how Logan had confessed his relief at avoiding the analysis of old home runs with Mr. Mars, the Padres devotee. The turkey and the stuffing were gone, as well as the brownies, but there was still some pie left and Veronica offered Charlie some.

"Veronica, is it okay if I give Logan a ride home tonight?" he asked her after she'd helped him to a slice of chocolate pecan pie.

She gave him a long, calculating stare, as if she were establishing whether or not Charlie could be trusted with Logan.

"Okay," she finally answered, turning away while she was preparing a selection of pie for Joanne. "Make sure you check his prescription, though, I don't want him to get the wrong pills."

"Yeah," said Logan from the bed, "it's a well-known fact that I'm incapable of doing that myself. It's not like I'm an adult who's been taking care of himself for more than two years, now."

"Logan, you know that you're just going to swallow whatever they give you. There have been cases…"

"Veronica, those cases were extremely rare. Don't worry, Charlie and I will be fine. We need to do some male bonding and go get drunk in a bar."

"You're not allowed…"

"I know. I'm just kidding, dear."

* * *

As Charlie helped Logan get discharged, he couldn't help but get nervous at Veronica's admonishments. Somehow she'd managed to make him extra-scared to screw up Logan's return home.

"You really don't need to do that, you know," Logan protested while he was checking the description of the pills on his Blackberry.

"I don't want any trouble with Veronica, that's all."

"Wise move."

Logan leaned against a wall and smiled at his brother while he was dealing with WebMD and the irate pharmacist.

"What?" Charlie demanded when he was done.

"Nothing," Logan replied. "It's just… Have you read _Anansi Boys_? It's this novel about an African god who has twin sons and they're complete opposites. I was just thinking we were a bit like that. Like, I'm the bad boy and you're the good one."

"You're not that bad."

"You don't know me."

"You don't know me either," huffed Charlie. "Maybe I'm not that good."

Logan laughed and shook his head. Now that Charlie took the time to observe him, he seemed pretty tired and his skin looked rather sallow. When they got to Charlie's car, Logan sank into the passenger's seat and closed his eyes. Charlie knew that the party must have tired him out, even though he'd seemed quite happy to be surrounded with his friends. For a second Charlie wondered if it was the right time to bring up the subject of Aaron.

"Listen," he said, starting the car. "There's something I wanted to ask you. If you're too tired for this, lemme know, but… How do you cope with the fact that your father is a murderer?"

For a moment Logan didn't answer, and Charlie thought he'd fallen asleep.

"Most of the time," he finally said without opening his eyes, "I try to think he's just… DNA, you know. Just...brown eyes and brown hair and blood type and stuff like that. And as long as they don't find the gene for being a violent asshole, I have a chance to end up okay."

Charlie considered this. "It's just…When I was a kid, I thought, if I'm good enough, maybe he'll notice me. Maybe he'll come to tell me he's proud of me," he said. "You know, if I became an astronaut or something."

"Oh, he would have noticed if you'd been an astronaut. Hell, he'd probably have taken credit for it. He was all about the cameras…"

They were silent a little longer as Charlie pondered what Logan had said. He'd never thought about how he would have felt if his father had sought him out only if he were a success story. Wouldn't he, indeed, have been resentful for it, and wouldn't he have been right to feel that way? He was suddenly glad that he'd never gotten his wish.

"Why didn't you become one?" asked Logan after a while.

"What?"

"An astronaut. Why didn't you become an astronaut, if you really wanted Daddy Dearest's attention so much?"

Charlie noticed how Logan referred to Aaron now - Daddy Dearest. He said it with derision, probably not understanding how fervently Charlie had once wanted to be able to have a dad. But that was a dream they both had to give up, and Charlie realised that all the envy and resentment he'd ever fostered towards his brother was gone. It wasn't Logan's fault that Charlie had to mourn that dream. On the contrary, for the first time, Charlie wasn't alone anymore. He had a brother, and they were mourning together. It made all the difference in the world.

"I guess, when I got older, I realised that he wasn't ever going to come to me," he replied. "I figured I might as well do something I wanted to do. And that was teaching, not flying to the moon."

"When I first found out about you," said Logan, "and I found out you were a teacher, with a proper job and everything, I figured, maybe there was hope for me, you know. That I wouldn't end up some rich idiot who doesn't do anything with his life."

"Really?" Charlie asked. He was touched by the admission, and he felt a little short for words. "Well, thanks. That's really nice of you to say."

He considered telling Logan how much Joanne had helped him to take that decision, but maybe that was a story for another day.

"It's great, the way you are with Marcy," continued Logan. "You're a good dad. Dad was never like that. He would never have gone to someone he hated to beg them for bone marrow for Trina or me."

"I didn't hate you."

"Yeah, you did."

"Okay, maybe," conceded Charlie. "I just didn't know you. I'd spent my life wondering what you had that I didn't, and then you came out and accused our dad of abuse and murder. I was confused."

Logan laughed. "Anyway, it's wonderful that you love your daughter. At least, it shows that hating your kids is not a genetic Echolls family trait."

Charlie stared in front of him, slightly embarrassed. "Just wait until Marcy comes home and gets her hands on that fire truck you gave her," he joked. "Then we'll see how far my fatherly love stretches!"

Logan smiled, and Charlie saw a mischievous glint in his eyes that clearly meant that his brother was greatly looking forward to that.

"Sorry I fed you to the paps, by the way," Logan blurted out, in an obviously failed attempt at a casual tone. "I really sucked on that one."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Charlie answered airily. He realised that, even though he had been furious about it at the time and had sworn he would never forgive Logan, he had completely forgotten about it. "They lost interest after a few days. And at least now I'm vindicated for all the times in grade school where nobody believed that my dad was a movie star."

Logan snorted. "All the same," he said. "I shouldn't have done it."

They were silent some more before Logan spoke again.

"When I got the call that he was dead, I didn't feel anything. Just relief that he was gone." He said it in such a toneless voice that Charlie knew Logan was now very tired. "He'd just come out of jail, you know, and he let me know he was going to make me pay for testifying against him. I didn't really know what to do. I didn't really see what I could do except run away, but I had only graduated high school and I didn't have a lot of money of my own. Then I got the call that someone killed him, and it was as if I was breathing again."

"I don't think anyone could blame you for thinking that."

"It's just… I still feel horrible that it took someone's death for me to be able to start living my life. But at the same time, I really wish I could thank whoever did it. It's awful, but they really saved my life."

"Maybe Aaron doesn't have anyone to blame for that except himself," answered Charlie, and he was surprised at his own tone. He sounded the way Joanne did whenever he used to bring up Aaron to her, but until now he had never figured out what she meant. "Maybe he brought it all on himself. I mean, did he ever do anything to make you miss him?"

"No."

"Well then," Charlie said in the same chirpy voice Joanne would use in such arguments, "what are you feeling guilty about?"

Logan had no answer. He only lifted his head from the headrest and stared out of the window for a while. Charlie took the opportunity to ask something else that had been on his mind for a long time.

"Do you have any idea who killed him?"

"No," Logan answered, but Charlie was almost sure that he was lying, even though he couldn't have told why. He let it slide, though. Whoever Logan suspected, he probably didn't want to make frivolous accusations against them, and he'd just told Charlie that he was grateful to the murderer. Charlie wasn't sure he wanted Logan to break his silence with him on the subject.

They finally arrived at Logan's apartment complex and Charlie parked his car in the garage and helped Logan out of his seat. The way Logan towered over him as he leaned on his shoulder made Charlie feel not just gratitude for the bone marrow donor, but true affection for that little brother of his, who had to grow up so fast. He promised himself that from now on he'd be there for him the way an older brother should.

Charlie opened the door to the apartment and Logan broke away from him, heading straight for his bedroom where he crashed on the bed.

"Can you just leave the pills on the night stand and get me a glass of water?" he asked. "I think I need a nap."

When Charlie came back from the kitchen, Logan was nearly asleep.

"Hey," he said, before the window of opportunity of the conversation closed and he lost his nerve, "I just wanted to say… I apologize for not giving you the benefit of the doubt all these years. You deserve better than that."

"No problem," Logan muttered. "Thanks for the second chance."

And with that, his eyes fell shut, his mouth dropped open and he started snoring lightly. Charlie took off his shoes and tucked him under the covers.

* * *

As he drove back to the hospital, Charlie thought about Logan had said, and he thought he understood what his brother had meant. Their father, with his larger-than-life personality and his many deadly sins, had been so oppressive for both of them that his death had freed a lot of space that they were still, more than two years later, gingerly trying to occupy. They were both struggling to define themselves without referring to him. And maybe DNA wasn't such a bad place to start: brown hair, brown eyes, blood type… Those were easy building blocks, ones that didn't bring too many negative connotations with them – and it was certainly thanks to Aaron Echolls's genes that they had the bone marrow that was saving Marcy.

But of course it was much more difficult than that, and Charlie was certain that there were many things that Logan hadn't told him, many fears and hang-ups that he hadn't wanted to talk about yet. But there was one thing that Logan had pointed out that was reassuring, and Charlie was surprised that he had never thought about it himself- they didn't have to be like their father, and there was no Echolls family curse, like one tabloid had suggested.

It was strange that he'd never thought about his father when he got married, when he and Joanne had been discussing children, or when she had announced to him that she was pregnant. The idea that he'd end up leaving Joanne and Marcy, just like his father had left him and his mother, hadn't even occurred to him. Maybe he wasn't that screwed up after all.

Charlie didn't know what the next step was, and neither did Logan, but they would find it. For now he was just thankful that fate had forced him to reach out to Logan, and that he now had a companion on his journey.

**End Notes:** Thanks for reading this fic. I just wanted to add that, in real life, Logan and Marcy would probably never be HLA-compatible if Charlie and Marcy weren't. Fortunately, they're fictional.  
Also, _Anansi Boys_, by Neil Gaiman.


End file.
